Category Archives: Master Beerman

Someone who has completed the journey … but wait … the journey is never really over … you just keep adding levels, like a master Kung Fu fighter … 5th degree Master Beerman.

“Near” Beerdrinker of the Year – 2011

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Sorry for the delay in my “blogging.”  I’ve been busy experiencing life (smile).

Ok, as you may (or may not) know, I was one of the 3 finalists for Wynkoop Brewery’s Beerdrinker of the Year competition for 2011.  I was up against some tough competition and, unfortunately, I came out on the short end of the stick … my congratulations to Phil for winning this year!

Wynkoop hosted a wonderful event.  Friday night was a Beer/Food-pairing dinner … will post that soon.  Saturday was the actual competition.  After a 3-hour grilling by 7 judges I was ready to just sit back and enjoy a couple of cold ones!  I think my downfall started during the blind taste-testing when I mistakenly identified Duvel as a Colt 45.  Oh well, win some and lose some!

Here’s a few random pics from the activities…

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Of course, my wife stated that I can accurately call myself Near Beerdrinker of the Year!

Watch out next year!

Beer Mentor

Summary Update: All About Beers Growler List

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I’ve been busy (and will post soon) visiting more locations on the All About Beer Magazine’s “Growler List.”  This is a list of 125 best places in the world to have a beer.  Here’s a quick update on places visited since my last update:

From the summary — see my earlier post for explanation:

Total (actual) places visited: 31.  Those I’ve visited since my last post:

12) The Brickskeller (now Bier Baron) (Washington, DC)
25) World Beer Festival (Raleigh, NC)
33) The Wynkoop Brewery (Denver, CO)
45) Selin’s Grove Brewing (Selinsgrove, PA)
54) Falling Rock Tap House (Denver, CO)
118) Top of the Hill Brewery & Restaurant (Chapel Hill, NC)
124) Stumbling Monk (Seattle, WA)

Place substitutions: 5

Substituting for a place no longer open: 1

That gives me a total of 37 “visited.” Some of the next ones on my list:

9) Monk’s Cafe (Philadelphia, PA)
42) SandLot Brewery, Coors Field (Denver, CO)
71) Brewer’s Art (Baltimore, MD)
76) City Tavern (Philadelphia, PA)
101) Cooter Brown’s (New Orleans, LA)
106) Brick Store Pub (Decatur, GA)
122) 5 Seasons Brewing (Atlanta, GA)

That will get me to 44.  I have a couple of more on my stretch goals list, but they are dependent on some big variables … so I won’t list them yet! <smile>

Beer Mentor

#28: Wynkoop Brewery (#33)

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Yep, on my recent trip to Denver I obviously made it to the Wynkoop Brewery.  This place is #33 on the All About Beer List “125 Places to Drink Beer.”

My friend Mike met me for the 2011 Beer Drinker of the Year dinner (more on that later).  Afterward, we sat at the bar and sampled a nice Belgian trappist-style ale they are serving right now … called Orville.  It was excellent (you can tell we were enjoying it!)

We had the pleasure of chatting with the Head Brewmaster (Andy Brown).  He and his crew are making some very nice beers.  He’s very personable–if you get a chance when you stop through say hey!

Of course, on one of our many trips to the restroom (downstairs) — we noticed they had several barrels from Stranahan’s distillery (all airlocked up and bubbling!)

They have two or three casked-conditioned beers rotating (those are worth a try too!)  Overall I was definitely impressed with the atmosphere and beers from Wynkoops–definitely deserved to be on the list.

Beer Mentor

Belgian-Style Witbier: KEGGED!

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I had the time on Wednesday (2 Mar 2011) to keg my Witbier, so I hustled up the equipment, sanitized it, and kegged that baby … Here are a couple of pictures of the “transfer process.”  You can see some suds in the 3rd picture — that’s my sanitizer residue …

It really cleared up well … of course, it’s been in secondary fermentation since early February (February 10th).  So, from 23 Jan until 2 Mar in the fermentor — 38 days in the fermentor … at a temp of approx 68 degrees.  You can see the final gravity in this picture:

With correction … I read a F.G. of 1.010 at 68 degrees … that corrects to 1.010.  So, with the O.G. of 1.051, I ended up with about 5.3% ABV.  My mash efficiency was around 72% … I may have mashed too quickly.  The attenuation was about 63% … may have had something to do with my yeast age.

You can see my CO2 cartridge here — it is a 20 oz paintball tank — works great!  I’ve got two that I swap out, but they both last a long time.  You can see in the 3rd picture that I’ve got the pressure kicked up and am force carbonating it in the fridge.  I just had a sample today–it is carbonated nicely … I’ll probably leave it at that pressure for another day or so and then move it down.  I’ll post a couple of final beer photos.  And, as usual, there’s always some clean up to do!

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

#27: Falling Rock Tap House (#54)

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Yes, it is official.  I’ve hit number 27 on All About Beer’s 125 places to drink beer.  The “Falling Rock Tap House.”  This place rocks!  I was in Denver this past weekend and had the opportunity to stop in here for a couple of special beers.

Just in case you were wondering, it was cold in Denver in February.  Here are the beers we sampled (on Friday AND Saturday):

We were able to sample four Russian River Brews: 1) Blind Pig, 2) Pliny the Elder, 3) Pliny the Younger, and 4) Consecration.  Wow!  What a line-up!  Both Pliny the Younger AND Consecration were limited release kegs that we sampled on Saturday.  Once again, wow!

If you love hoppy beers, these are for you (except for Consecration, a sour beer).  In order they were 6%, 8%, and 11% ABV.  The Pliny the Younger was absolutely the most well balanced hop/alcohol west-coast IPA I’ve ever had.  Amazing.  Here are a couple of pictures of it:

We actually showed up on Friday night, had Pliny the Elder, and then were told that we should come back at 1100 the next day for the Younger … so we did!  Here are some random shots of the bar … this place was full of character …

Oh, you’ll notice the last image says “Dain Bramage.”  The weekend we were there, they were having a Barley Wine on tap series … LOL!  This place was excellent.  Two other beers I had there on Saturday night … the Bull & Bush Man Beer and Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA.  Both nice beers.

You may ask yourself, “How did they drink all these beers?”  We had this excellent “Man Breakfast on our stomachs” on Saturday (see pics).

My recommendation to you — if you are in Denver, you should stop by this place and a have a few beers–well worth the trip! (oh, the food is excellent too …)

Enjoy! Beer Mentor

Summary: All About Beers “Growler List”

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If you’ve been following my post, you know I’ve been attempting to visit as many places as possible on the All About Beer Magazine’s “Growler List.”  This is a list of 125 best places in the world to have a beer.  It was published in May of 2008.  There are a couple of other lists out there — 150 Top Bars by both All About Beer, Washington Magazine, and Draft Magazine.

I kind of set this list as my “benchmark” and have been working through it as best I can.  I’m not debating the merits of the list … I’m just using it as a stepping stone.  I’ve got a list of places I’ve been building I should publish.  However, this post is about my current status on completing this list.  So, let’s get to it!

Total (actual) places visited: 24.  Quickly listing them (with their associated list number):

1) GABF (Denver, CO)
2) Grand Place (Brussels, Belgium)
5) Oktoberfest (Munich, Germany)
7) Abbaye de Notre-Dame d’Orval (Orval, Belgium)
11) Hofbrauhaus (Munich, German)
14) The Market Porter (Stoney Street, London, England)
15) Cat’s Eye Pub, Inner Harbor (Baltimore, MD)
26) French Quarter* (New Orleans, LA)
30) The Olde Mitre Tavern, Ely Court, Hatton Garden (London, England)
39) The Flying Saucer (Ft Worth, TX)
48) The Blue Tusk (Syracuse, NY)
51) The White Horse Pub, Parsons Green (London, England)
57) Andechs Monastery (Andechs, Germany)
66) Delerium Cafe (Brussels, Belgium)
80) Le Bier Circus (Brussels, Belgium)
82) Irseer Klosterbrauerei (Irsee, German)
91) Dogfish Head Ale House (Rehoboth Beach, DE)
92) Belgo Central (London, England)
97) Clark’s Ale House (Syracuse, NY)
103) Kelly’s Caribbean Bar (Key West, FL)
104) Rose & Crown Pub (Epcot Center, FL)
110) The Gingerman (Austin, TX)
114) The Dubliner (Washington, DC)
121) Old Ebbitt Grill (Washington, DC)

Places I’ve substituted for items on the list that I consider experiential listings.  In my opinion, you have to enjoy the venue to enjoy the brew … so I think this is a fair substitution: 5

16) Substituting Camden Yards for Fenway Park
– Drinking Clipper City Brews behind home plate in Camden Yards … awesome!
19) Substituting Highland Games for Horse Racing
– Drinking Stouts in the Beer Tent at the Glengarry Highland Games in Ontario listening to the Grade 1 North American Champions improv … fantastic!
22) German Bundesliga Fussball over NASCAR
– Drinking a sweet Pilsner watching 1FCK am Betze! Prima!
31) NFL Game (Cowboys/Redskins) instead of NASCAR (again)
44) NFL Europe Tailgating in Frankfurt over SEC Tailgating
– I’m a Big 12 fan … so, I’ll take the tailgating in Frankfurt! Sweet!

Substituting for a place no longer open: 1

123) Tim Schafer’s is closed I understand.  Substituting In De Vrede (Westvleteren, Belgium)

That gives me a total of 30 “visited.” I plan on visiting the following 8 sites in the next three months:

9) Monk’s Cafe (Philadelphia, PA)
12) The Brickskeller (now Bier Baron) (Washington, DC)
25) World Beer Festival (Raleigh, NC)
33) The Wynkoop Brewery (Denver, CO)
42) SandLot Brewery, Coors Field (Denver, CO)
45) Selin’s Grove Brewing (Selinsgrove, PA)
54) Falling Rock Tap House (Denver, CO)
71) Brewer’s Art (Baltimore, MD)
76) City Tavern (Philadelphia, PA)

So, my target on the list is 37 “places” by the end of May. Wish me luck!

Beer Mentor

RFD (DC): A Tasting hosted by Bob Tupper

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On Wednesday, 16 Feb, a couple of friends and I attended a Strong Ale tasting event hosted by Bob Tupper at RFD in Washington, DC (Chinatown).  He used to host these sessions at the Brickskeller but moved it here when the ownership of the Brickskeller changed (the Brickskeller is now Bier Baron).

As should be expected, we showed up a little early and had a mini-tasting of our own before we started the Strong-Ale Tasting!

We ordered ourselves a sample from the extensive draft list at RFD.  We had (in order of tasting):

Port City Essential Pale Ale, Mad Fox Diabolik Belgian Strong Ale, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Dominion Millennium English Style Barleywine, and the Starr Hill Cryptical Imperial Stout.  I tried to order beers someone from Colorado wouldn’t normally have available.  Port City, the new brewery, is doing a very nice job.  I really enjoyed all of these beers.  The Starr Hill was good, but didn’t seem to match its style claim.  The Edmund Fitzgerald was wonderful.

Now, on to the tasting.  You can see the list here (with a couple of photos of Bob Tupper).

I will put up another post with my tasting notes on all 10 of these beers.  I do want to say that the 11-year old J.W. Lee Harvest Ale (provided by the brewer from Sweetwater Tavern) was amazing!  It is so nice to have these opportunities.  Here are the accompanying pictures–like I said, I will put together another post with my tasting notes.

Of course, when you’ve had a few strong ales, you always seem to have more fun wherever you are! <smile>

Beer Mentor

Stumblingpiper’s Pub: An Evening of Beer Tasting

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A couple of days ago I had a couple of friends over and we went for a long Mountain Bike ride … that ride set us up nicely for a “beer tasting” evening in Stumblingpiper’s Pub. You may ask, where is this Pub?  That’s easy … it’s in my house! <smile>

My lovely bride made us a huge pot of Chocolate Beer Chili (with Bison) and cornbread!  Yes! (Let me know if you’d like the recipe).  We decided to bring out the big beers for this one.

Yep … in order of tastings.

1) Mike’s ESB Homebrew (two bottles in the back).  This is an award-winning brew from a Colorado Springs homebrewer — one of the Brew Bros!  What a nice ESB–an excellent appetizer.

2) Southern Tier Iniquity.  I’ve had this beer before, but my friends had not.  I really like this style of Black IPAs.  It has a great balance — the darker malts definitely do not overcome this beer … it was the right start for the chili!

3) Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops.  This beer surprised all of us.  I originally thought it was another Black IPA … but upon further review, we realized it was bourbon-barrel-aged Stout.  I think I should have aged it a little longer — the bourbon was really in your face with this beer … so much so that it distracted from the Stout flavor.  Interesting that it was re-fermented with Champagne yeast … 2 of the 3 of us finished ours (and then had to finish the other guy’s too … he just couldn’t get past the Bourbon-flavor).

4) Samuel Adams-Weihenstephan Infinium (2010).  This was our second surprise beer.  Seeing that it was a US/German collaboration, we had no idea it would be a Belgian-style Ale (Guess we should read these things before opening and drinking!) <smile>  After the initial surprise wore off, both Mike and I had a big smile on our face … I really liked the balance of this beer … a sour ale finished with Champagne yeast.  Again, with this one, 2 of the 3 of us finished this one off.

5) Fegley Brew works Hop’solutely Triple IPA.  We finished off with the Triple IPA.  I had purchased this beer on a trip to Jim Thorpe, PA last year.  It has sat in my basement for about 7-8 months … it really helped (from the other reviews I’ve seen).  This was an excellent example of a high ABV /IPA … good balance of hops/alcohol/malt.  Of course, as with most in this style, it had a slight, cloying sweetness … but I thought that was well-balanced by the hops.  A nice, final dessert beer!

It was a great evening of tastings with friends at the Stumblingpiper Pub!

Beer Mentor

Beer / Food Pairing – Beer Mentor-style!

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Recently I was asked to come up with a salad, entree, and dessert paired with beers.  Jill (my wife) and I came up with these dishes on one of our weekend trips recently.  She and I prepared these meals and I invited a friend over to partake and compare.  So, here they are — the food (plus recipe) and the beer pairing.

SALAD/Extra Special Salad
Beer (ESB): Breckenridge Small Batch 471 ESB
Dish: A slaw-style salad marinated with malt vinegar
Details/Ingredients: 1 head each of Red & Green Cabbage, 16 oz can of Red (Kidney) Beans, 16 oz can of White (Navy) Beans, 1 TSP of Crushed Red Pepper, 16 oz of Vegetable Broth, and 32 oz of Malt Vinegar.
Recipe: Cut up the Red & Green Cabbage into slaw, combine with Vegetable broth, cover with water in a pan and boil for 15 minutes.  Drain and combine with beans and red pepper.  Add Malt Vinegar and marinade OVERNIGHT. Add salt to taste (maybe a little more red pepper if it doesn’t have a little kick).  Serve cold.

ENTREE/Gorgonzola-stuffed Bison Steak
Beer (Imperial IPA): Dogfish Head Squall IPA
Dish: A chopped bison steak with Gorgonzola.  Sides of Sweet Corn Succotash and Garlic-seasoned “Crostini.”
Details: 1/3 lb of chopped bison/buffalo steak.  1/4 cup of gorgonzola crumbles.  Shape the meat into a rectangle, pour the cheese in the middle, then fold it over to form a square.  Salt and pepper to taste — grill the steak to desired state.
Succotash: Saute in butter 16 oz can of sweet corn, 1 diced red bell pepper, and 1 diced red onion until tender.  In the last minute add approx 1/4 cup of cilantro (to taste).  Salt and pepper to taste as well.
Finally, serve with garlic-seasoned “crostini” or garlic toast.(Forgot to make the crostini this time <smile>)

DESSERT/Cherry Lime a la Mode!
Beer (LAMBIC): Since I was out of Lambics, we used Bell’s Cherry Stout
Dish: Lime Sherbert with Crushed Black Pepper, garnished with a Belgian Waffle “Cracker.”
Details/Recipe: Mix fresh crushed black pepper with the Lime Sherbert (too taste).

Everything was wonderful together — for the dessert, definitely should have had the Lambic … it would have been the perfect mix (but this one was pretty good!)

Beer Mentor

Belgian-Style Witbier: Racking to Secondary

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I finally racked my Belgian-style Witbier to the secondary fermentation “tank.”   I left it in primary fermentation for 15 days … seems a little long, but it kept being active.  I think the temperature stayed between 68 and 70 degrees pretty much the entire time (except when we lost electricity and the temp in the house dropped to 54 degrees … then it was a little cooler! <smile>).

The first thing I did was prep and sanitize the equipment.

You’ll notice that I use a “Better Bottle” as my secondary fermentation “tank.”  I typically use the “bucket” for primary fermentation because it always makes it easy to transfer (and clean up).  You can see that in these pictures — you can definitely see what I have to clean!

I thought the color was right on … of course there’s still some fermentables (and other stuff) suspended in the pre-beer … it will clear over time … but check out the color here.

Also, you can see that the Specific Gravity is 1.024 (approx).  My target Final Gravity is 1.010 … again, I think I have some suspended particles that give it a little higher gravity; however, it was still bubbling away after I transferred it.  Of course, you always want to tast the intermediate “beer”–it was delicious.  I can’t wait for the final product!

Beer Mentor